Should you keep your maiden name?
My husband and I do not have the same last name. Yup, I didn’t change my name when I was married.
GASP.
The horror.
I have a friend who wanted to keep her name for professional reasons but she was concerned about the “backlash” from her family and her small town.
I remember a teacher in my high school saying that if the woman he wanted to marry wouldn’t take his last name, he wouldn’t marry her. He is now married and obviously she took his last name.
Growing up in small town in Manitoba was fantastic. Truly it was. But, there were some things I couldn’t understand. I pretty much learned that you shouldn’t vote liberal or keep your maiden name. There was one woman who kept her maiden name and she was basically talked about like she was a witch from Salem. And I am pretty sure she voted liberal too.
I am sure things have changed and that women who decide to keep their maiden names are not considered witches.
I think its a fact that women who keep their maiden names are hippies with hairy legs.
Case in point…..
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Of course those aren’t my legs?! What kind of attention seeking human being do you think I am? Seriously. I really need to repaint my toenails.
Whoops.
So, why didn’t I change my name?
Obviously, I have my reasons why I wasn’t ready to change my name to Mrs. Zed. It was very weird to me to have an entire new name. It felt wrong to suddenly drop the last name I grew up with and take on a new identity. I wasn’t ready to drop my connection to my parents and siblings. I love that people hear my last name and ask me if such and such is my brother or if my Dad taught them. And basically, I am a bit of a brat and I just didn’t want to.
And for us, it’s never been a problem.
There is the odd time that we have to explain ourselves and our situation. But, its pretty rare.
Like when my husband’s boss used to refer to me as Zed’s “room mate.”
Or the time in the grocery store when I was very pregnant with Whirlwind and an acquaintance came up to me and exclaimed, “I didn’t know you were having a baby. WHO IS THE FATHER?”
Good question.I was always a bit of a hussy.
DISCLAIMER: I think its wonderful if you take your husband’s last name. I think its wonderful if you keep your last name. I think its wonderful if you combine your last names. I also think its wonderful that Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are having a baby.